US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that they now have enough H-1B cap cases both selected and in process to meet the cap for fiscal 2023, and so will not be conducting a second lottery selection from the original application pool as they had done the two previous summers.

The agency has therefore changed the online status of everyone not selected the first time from “Submitted” to “Not Selected.” In their online system (thus triggering vague and facially mysterious e-mail notifications to the employer/petitioners behind as-yet unselected entries and their attorneys that there has been a change in online status).

This announcement is different in character from the announcement back in March that the initial selection process was complete, which left unselected cases in “Submitted” status thus leaving open the possibility of another selection round for the Fiscal 2023 cap year.  This latest announcement removes all hope of 2023 selection for those not so far chosen in a lottery round, and leaves the March 2023 selection for Fiscal 2024 cap as the next hope of US employers desperate for qualified professional workers to secure an H-1B for their candidates.